Overview
Alchemy Formula: Gold Bar is a consumable crafting recipe in Crimson Desert. It is a document detailing the method for creating Gold Bars, the most precious metal in the world and the very source and core of wealth. Learning this recipe is required before you can craft Gold Bars through alchemy at a Witch NPC.
Where to Find
The formula is found inside the Spire of Insight, a puzzle tower located in the Steel Mountains in the southeastern part of the Hernand region, directly south of Pororin Village. The recipe scroll is pinned on a shelf on the third floor of the tower.
To reach the recipe, you need to complete the Spire's puzzles. The tower entrance is blocked by thorny brambles that must be burned away using Blinding Flash with Focus Light. Each floor presents a puzzle solved by finding specific objects shown on book pages and placing them in a golden pot. The Gold Bar formula is accessible on the third floor, and you can grab it and teleport out if you wish. However, completing the full tower is recommended for the Abyss fast travel point at the top.
Spire of Insight Puzzle Summary
Floor | Items Needed |
|---|---|
Entrance | Burn brambles with Focus Light, clear bandits, place pebble in pot on front door |
Ground Floor | Pick up gravestone from back of room, place in center pot |
First Floor | Find telescope (back right) and pen tip (small room in back corner), place both in pot |
Second Floor (Recipe here) | Gold Bar recipe on shelf; puzzle requires celestial, small map rotor, and sundial in pot |
Top | Abyss fast travel point |
Alternative Source: Pailune Witch's Hideout
A hidden Witch's hideout south of the city of Pailune offers an easier alternative to the Spire of Insight for picking up the Gold Bar formula. The hideout sits in a small cave tucked into a cliff face, with no map icon or minimap indicator, so you have to know exactly where to look.
Once you have liberated Pailune during the main story, fast travel to the Pailune city Abyss Nexus and mount your horse. Follow the main road south, passing the main gate exit. Keep your eyes on the right side of the road for a row of fallen logs at the edge of a small cliff.
Fast travel to the Pailune City Abyss Nexus and mount up.
Ride south down the main road toward the main gate exit.
Watch the right-hand side of the road for fallen logs at the top of a small cliff.
Ride your horse up the slope toward the cliff line and look for a set of stone stairs. There is no minimap icon for the entrance.
Follow the stairs into the cave to find the witch's hideout.
Inside the hideout you will find a Tea Recipe on a nearby shelf along with several alchemy flowers that can be gathered for crafting. The Gold Bar alchemy formula is tucked onto a bookshelf behind the Tea Recipe. Interact with the scroll to pick it up, then equip it from your inventory and use your Lantern on the glowing blue text to register it in your Knowledge menu, just like the Spire of Insight copy.
This option is generally faster than the Spire of Insight because you can skip the multi-floor puzzle sequence. If you have already liberated Pailune and have a horse ready, you can be in and out of the hideout in under a minute. The Spire of Insight is still worth visiting for the Abyss Nexus fast travel point at the top of the tower, but only after you already have the formula in hand.
How to Learn
After picking up the scroll, equip it from your inventory and use your Lantern on the glowing blue text to permanently register the formula in your Knowledge menu. The physical scroll can then be sold. Also look around the room for additional crafting books before leaving.
What it Unlocks
Learning this formula enables three crafting methods for Gold Bars:
Blacksmith smelting: 100 Gold Ore at any blacksmith (inefficient)
Witch alchemy: 3 Brimstone + 3 Mercury + 10 Silver Ore (recommended)
Witch alchemy: 3 Gold Ore + 1 Golden Apple (rare ingredient)
Details
Property | Value |
|---|---|
Consumable | |
Type | Crafting Recipe |
Location | Spire of Insight (3rd floor) |
See Also
Gold Bar - The item this recipe allows you to craft
Spire of Insight - The tower where the formula is located
Alchemy Recipes - Full list of alchemy formulas
Crafting Manuals - Index of all recipe locations
Confirmed Pailune Hideout Pickup Directions
The Pailune hideout cave variant covered in the previous section can be reached with a single set of clear directions, summarized here for quick reference. The cave entrance sits on the south side of Pailune between the letters I and L of the Pailune label on the world map. Look for a flight of stone stairs leading down into the cliff face.
On entering, turn right immediately. The Alchemy Formula: Gold Bar scroll is tucked into the bookshelf behind the books on the right-hand wall. Pick the scroll up from inventory, equip it, and shine your Lantern on the glowing blue text to register the recipe in your Knowledge menu.
Pickup Checklist
Liberate Pailune so the city's Abyss Nexus is unlocked.
Fast travel to the Pailune Abyss Nexus and mount up.
Ride south down the main road past the main gate.
Find the cave entrance between the I and L of the Pailune label, marked by a flight of stone stairs leading down into the cliff.
Enter the cave and turn right immediately.
Pull the recipe scroll from the bookshelf behind the books on the right wall.
Equip the scroll, use the Lantern on the glowing blue text, and confirm the formula is now in your Knowledge menu.
Why Use This Pickup Over the Spire of Insight
No puzzles: the hideout cave has no door puzzles, no item-fetch sequences, and no boss fight. The Spire of Insight pickup requires you to clear bandits, gather puzzle items across multiple floors, and place each one in the correct golden pot.
Single-stop trip: the recipe sits on the first interactable shelf inside the cave. Total time on a horse from the Pailune Abyss Nexus is roughly a minute round-trip.
The hideout cave is the same entrance referenced by the canonical Gold Bar farming chain, so picking up the recipe here means you are already staged for the three-cave Gold Ore route immediately afterward.
The Spire of Insight is still worth visiting separately for the Abyss Nexus fast travel point at the top of the tower. Pick up the recipe at the hideout cave first, then visit the Spire when convenient.
What the Recipe Lets You Craft
Once learned, the formula unlocks the Gold Ore + Golden Apple recipe at any Witch NPC (3 Gold Ore + 1 Golden Apple per Gold Bar). This is the highest-throughput Gold Bar craft when paired with the three-cave Gold Ore route and the Greyrock Dock hedgehog farm. Gold Bars themselves are the gating ingredient for Platinum (1 Gold Bar per Platinum via the Alchemy Formula: Platinum recipe), which in turn gates every Aeserion Longsword and sibling Aeserion weapon.